Weekly News Roundup: Photo Contest Winners Revealed and More!

After an incredible 29,000 entries and countless votes from wildlife enthusiasts across the country, the winners of the 2014 National Wildlife Photo Contest have been released! Our contest winners will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Wildlife magazine! If you haven’t done so already, I’d encourage you to take a moment and enjoy the amazing photo contest winners! In other news, the National Wildlife Federation and the Atlanta Woman’s Club hosted a Youth Conservation Leadership Summit where student leaders were inspired, motivated and encouraged to do something bold and courageous for the environment. Learn more about the incredible success of this summit and its inspired students!

What’s happening at the National Wildlife Federation this week?

The 44th Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest Winners Announced

November 6 – National Wildlife Federation is proud to announce the winners of the prestigious 44th annual National Wildlife® Photo Contest. Operated by National Wildlife Federation’s award-winning, full-color magazine National Wildlife®, the popular contest celebrates the beauty of nature and raises funds to help the organization act to protect wildlife and wild places.

Time for a Fresh Start on Bipartisan Conservation Progress

November 5 – In the midterm elections Tuesday, Republicans maintained control of the U.S. House and gained a majority in the U.S. Senate. Collin O’Mara, president and chief executive officer of the National Wildlife Federation, said today: “Wildlife conservation issues have long enjoyed bipartisan support across the nation. Yet for the past few years, numerous bipartisan conservation bills have stalled. With both sides calling for greater cooperation among the parties, wildlife conservation issues should be among the priorities for early action. A fresh start in the new Congress should include measures that would enhance protections for fish and wildlife habitat, promote sportsmen access, improve community and natural resource resilience, and deliver resources to farmers and ranchers for on the ground conservation practices.”

National Wildlife Federation Commends Bunge’s Pledge to Conservation

October 31 – A new commitment by Bunge aimed to protect high carbon stock forests and areas of high conservation value was released Monday. The commitment will directly impact their purchases of palm oil, most notably from Malaysian Borneo, where rampant destruction of wildlife habitat and carbon-rich peatlands is common. “Bunge has taken an immense step in the right direction. This commitment is of great importance in saving Borneo’s forests, which are home to wildlife like Orangutans, Sun Bears, Pangolins and many more,” saidBarbara Bramble, Senior Advisor for International Affairs at the National Wildlife Federation. “This new commitment from yet another major trader clearly demonstrates to industry laggards that customers want deforestation-free products.”

NWF in the News:

“The second anniversary of Hurricane Sandy this month is a reminder that the U.S. remains woefully unprepared for superstorms and other extreme weather events. Federal statutes continue unwittingly to incentivize development in hazard-prone areas, while fiscal politics prevent sizable investments in resilience measures. This dichotomy distorts private markets and exacerbates the potential liability of the U.S. Treasury.”

“Rangia clams are a very important ecological and wildlife component of the bay’s ecosystem,” says Norman Johns, a water resources scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. “Unfortunately we are not finding very many live Rangia in this sampling program.”

David Mizejewski with the National Wildlife Federation explains why beetles would eat zombie brains faster than they could eat ours in the animals vs undead apocalypse. “Flesh eating beetles, as their name suggests, specialize in feeding on dead flesh. Once they infested a zombie, it would be just a matter of days until these tiny beetles stripped the walker to the bone.”

“The first step is to know where they are and where they aren’t,” said Norman Johns, an Austin-based scientist for the National Wildlife Federation, which is conducting the two-year study of clams in Galveston Bay. “Already, we are surprised by the contraction.”

Norman Johns a water resources scientist with the National Wildlife Federation holds a group of dead Rangia clams of various ages during a survey of the Rangia clam bed population in Trinity Bay, off the coast of Baytown.